Mike Weir guts out even-par Masters opening round

Mike Weir of Canada lines up a putt on the 18th hole during the first round of the 2013 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on Thursday, April 11, 2013 in Augusta, Ga.

Photograph by: Andrew Redington
, Getty Images

AUGUSTA, Ga. — They took Mike Weir in for drug-testing after he shot 72 Thursday at Augusta National to open the 10th anniversary of his 2003 Masters victory.

He joked earlier in the week that he was in the clear unless they’re banning Advil — and he certainly popped a couple of those after his tee shot at the eighth hole left him clutching his ribs and gritting his teeth in pain — but the good stuff the 42-year-old Canadian had in him this day wasn’t pharmaceutical in nature.

It came from memory, and guts, and discipline.

Maybe this is the new formula. Swing at 80 per cent, hit the centre of the club face, and to heck with worrying about the guys who hit it 50 yards farther, in the rough.

Weir, labouring with a rib cartilage injury that limited him to nine holes of practice for the Masters after almost total inactivity for two weeks since withdrawing from the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill, swung easy and was rarely out of position all day.

He hit all but four fairways, barely missing two of those, and 15 of 18 greens in regulation.

“Yeah, maybe that’s kind of a nice recipe,” he said. “The temptation is there, because the golf course is so long, to go after it. But I had to reel that in today. But the ball is still getting out there a decent distance. It’s amazing, when you find the centre of the face with a slower swing ...”

With three birdies on the back nine, gaining freedom in his swing as the round wore on and the day grew warmer, Weir — who’d been two-over-par after six holes — capped off his comeback by rolling a 12-foot putt for birdie, dead centre into the cup, at the 18th hole.

“Yeah, the tee shot at No. 8 gave me a nice little jolt, that’s for sure, but luckily there weren’t too many more,” he said. “There was one on the back side, I think it was 13 tee, but other than that, it wasn’t too bad.

“It grabs me, right when I’m coming to impact is when I feel it, and it grabs me and I can’t extend through. It’s like an interruption in mid-swing. But it’s way better compared to Bay Hill, where it would double me over.”

He was in a comfortable pairing with Lee Westwood and Jim Furyk, both of whom played well, Furyk shooting 69 and Westwood 70.

“I saw him in the trailer this morning, I know he was struggling, and early on it probably did look a little that way with the longer clubs, the driver, he was hitting the ball kinda low and flat,” said Furyk, “but as the day went on he seemed to loosen up and he drove the ball really well for the second half of the day. And he picked up a lot of distance.”

“I’m pleased,” said Weir, who wasn’t even sure he could play this week until Wednesday.

“I guess my expectations weren’t real high, but something in my gut told me I was going to find a way to score out here. I’ve played this golf course so much, if I could just get that thing in the fairway, I know the right angles and the right spots to be on the greens, which I did a really good job of today.

“To finish that well was nice. It was a little frustrating, because I felt I left some out there, so to finish with a birdie — it’s what I wanted to do: finish somewhere around par. A couple under would have been nice, but I got it back to par, and I’m in a good position.”

He hit the ball so well, in fact, that with just an ordinary putting day (he had 33 putts) he might well have been three or four under par and right in the hunt.

“I mean, No. 1, No. 2, 7, 8, 9, hit it close on 10 (for a tap-in birdie), 12, 13 ...,” he chuckled. “So yeah, I guess there were a lot. They weren’t five feet, but they were 15 feet in the right spot. I was just a little off with pace on one, or line on another, just didn’t quite get them together. But it was nice to get that last one.”

With rain, perhaps heavy rain and hail, forecast for Thursday night and more unsettled weather Friday, Weir may have gotten the better half of the draw, playing early-late.

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